Meet our photographers

Without great images, our website, articles and materials would just be a lot of black and white material with a bit of color splash tossed in for good measure. We are very grateful for the support and one-time-use of copyright images granted by photographers John Evans, Nikki Hodgson, Becca Skinner and Katie Schultz.

John Evans

John Evans’ long marketing career in the Outdoor Industry has given him considerable insight into the craft of photography as well as how impactful imagery can help create memorable brands. Shooting at a professional level since 2001, his work is focused on the hard-to-capture world of climbing, trail running, and arborism. Due to his background in shooting headlamp imagery for Petzl, John excels in creating authentic and captivating photos in low-light environments. His work as has been published in Rock and Ice, Climbing, Gripped, Trail Runner, REI, Mountain Gear, Cabalas, and dozens of other publications. John is also a regular instructor at the Rock and Ice photo camp and at the Red Rock Rendezvous.

Nikki Hodgson is the Sustainable Business Innovation Manager at Outdoor Industry Association, helping to facilitate the OIA Sustainability Working Group and the development of industry standards around environmental and social responsibility. Raised in the outdoor industry, Nikki spent her early years following her Dad around A16 and Western Mountaineering before more formally joining the industry to work for both outdoor retailers and brands while pursuing degrees in English and German from Humboldt State University. After receiving her M.A. in international environmental policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, she spent a few years living out of a suitcase, working for international environmental NGOs on climate adaptation policy in both the Middle East and Europe, before returning to the outdoor industry. Throughout it all, Nikki has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, documenting her misadventures in the mountains and overseas, while kayaking, climbing, skiing, biking, running, and horse wrangling.

What motivates me: As Aldo Leopold wrote, “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” I cannot. Photography and writing are the the conduits through which I share my adoration of the wild places and moments in my life and my environmental work is the platform I use to protect those places and moments. For me, there is significant joy to be found in sharing wild places (and the adventures they inspire) with kindred spirits. Photography and writing are how I share those moments with a wider group of wonderful people who are as equally unable to live without wild things as I am.

Becca Skinner was born into a family of adventurers and was raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the high plains of Wyoming. This environment fueled a lifetime passion about wild places and exploring.

While studying Social Work and Technical Writing at the University of Wyoming, she won a National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant to document post-tsunami Sumatra, Indonesia.

That trip sparked a leave from school, which led to 32,000 miles of living out of a car, traveling and photographing around the West. She now resides in Bozeman, Montana, working as an adventure, lifestyle and photographer and writer.

Katie Schultz is an avid climber who is out in the field often, and her photographs capture much of what she sees in the natural world around the crags. She has an eye for detail as well as perspective, so her work highlights her comfort with both macro and long lenses. Katie is the general manager of Boulders Climbing Gym in Madison, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband Steve, five house rabbits, two dogs and three hermit crabs. Follow me on my Instagram page.

What We Are About

Our mission is to educate, inspire, motivate and guide passion-drive businesses.We believe in: Leading from the front; Challenging the status quo; Respecting our heritage; Seeing change as opportunity; Focusing on why not instead of why; Being solution biased, complaint averse; Building relationships not likes.

Meet the Team

Our team is dedicated to helping businesses of all shapes and sizes succeed. We have a singular passion for specialty business: Not as an MBA case study or as a passing curiosity. Click here to learn more.